Feb. 10, 2013--Tom Ballance likens himself to a new football
coach who inherits a Super Bowl-caliber team led by a star quarterback.

Under such circumstances, he notes, it would make no sense
shaking up the game plan.

"That would be analogous to a coach benching Tom Brady,"
Ballance said of the future Hall of Fame quarterback for the New
England Patriots. "You have the best player in the world, and you
wouldn't want to put him on the bench."

In this case, the star "player" is a casino, not a
quarterback. Ballance has taken over as the new president of Borgata
Hotel Casino & Spa, Atlantic City's top casino.

Ballance, a 32-year veteran of the casino industry, stressed
that he plans no radical management changes at Borgata. But he has
stepped in at a time when competition from casinos in surrounding
states is as intense as ever. Even the powerhouse Borgata saw its
Atlantic City-leading gambling revenue fall 6 percent in 2012. Profits
are shrinking, too.

"There is only one imperative marching order that you get from
Boyd, and that is that you are to operate with the highest level of
integrity. That is pretty much it," he said.

But there are no plans to put Borgata on cruise control while
the competition grows and profits decline.

For 2013, Borgata will spend about $25 million to redo 80
suites, renovate the hotel lobby, give its mur.mur nightclub a
facelift, renovate its public bathrooms and buy about 400 new slot
machines.

Borgata responded to the opening of the new $2.4 billion Revel
megaresort in Atlantic City last year by refurbishing its main
2,000-room hotel tower. The $50 million project, completed in June,
gives Borgata what Ballance calls the best guest rooms in the market.

"We continue to have the cleanest, freshest and most
up-to-date product in this region," he said.

As for the rest of Atlantic City, Ballance said he is
encouraged by projects such as the Margaritaville-themed expansion at
Resorts Casino Hotel and the rebranding of the former Trump Marina
Hotel Casino into the Golden Nugget.

He also praised city and state officials for the development
of the Tourism District, which is designed to make Atlantic City safer
and cleaner for visitors.

The proposed legalization of sports betting and Internet
gambling would further boost the city as it looks to distinguish itself
from rival casino markets in neighboring states, Ballance said.

When more conventions start coming to town, Atlantic City
should evolve into a full-fledged destination resort -- a place where
tourists can spend longer vacations and spent more money, he predicted.

From waiter to casino president

The 54-year-old Ballance was the first Atlantic City employee
that Boyd hired in 1998, when plans for Borgata were still unfolding.
He was brought on as vice president of development, a key position in
the design, construction and opening of the $1.1 billion casino resort.

"I joke with people that Borgata's first executive office was
my dining room table," he said of the early days of the project.

Ballance and other members of the development team, including
Borgata's mastermind, Robert Boughner, crafted a luxurious, Las
Vegas-style casino that was designed to appeal to the Atlantic City
"rejectors," the high-end customers who previously had no interest in
the city's gambling scene.

"We had incredible autonomy to conceive the project, after we
figured out what would be the most successful business model," Ballance
said.

Following Borgata's 2003 opening, it wasn't long before it
established itself as Atlantic City's No. 1 casino under Boughner's
leadership. Boughner, who left Atlantic City for a time to oversee a
now-dormant Las Vegas project, returned to Borgata in 2009 to take
charge again. However, Boughner was called back to Las Vegas again in
the fall for additional duties at Boyd, opening the door for Ballance
to become Borgata's new president and chief operating officer.

Other than Ballance's promotion to the top spot, Borgata's
senior management team remains the same. The other members are Joe Lupo
and Auggie Cipollini, both of whom hold the title of senior vice
president of operations.

Ballance's Atlantic City casino career started humbly in 1980.
At that time, he was a food-service waiter at the old Golden Nugget
casino. That was Atlantic City's original Golden Nugget, the Boardwalk
property owned by casino mogul Steve Wynn, not the latest edition of
the Golden Nugget in the Marina District.

Ballance, who lives in Egg Harbor Township, began his casino
career after graduating with a business degree from The Richard
Stockton College of New Jersey. From Golden Nugget, he jumped into
management at Harrah's Resort. He climbed the executive ranks at
Harrah's before leaving to join Borgata.

"There are people who came out of Harvard and were successful
gaming executives, and there are people who waited tables and came out
of Stockton and who are successful," he said.

So the waiter-turned-casino boss now finds himself heading one
of the country's top casinos. One analyst said Borgata is so dominant
that it can influence the Atlantic City market all by itself.

"As a casino, you've got to advance your own bottom line, but
there's also a sense that when Borgata endeavors to speak for the
entire industry, it has a very loud voice," said Michael Pollock,
managing director of Spectrum Gaming Group, a Linwood-based casino
consulting firm.

"We control 20 percent of the gross gaming revenue in town,"
Ballance said. "That's amazing that one of five gaming dollars spent in
Atlantic City is spent in this building."

Borgata perennially is Atlantic City's most profitable casino,
too, but Harrah's is proving to be a formidable challenger. Through the
first nine months of 2012, Harrah's had moved ahead, posting $108.8
million in gross operating profits to Borgata's $106.1 million.
Year-end profit figures will not be announced until April.

Before the market had its downturn, Borgata's operating
profits peaked at $256.4 million in 2005. By 2011, its operating
profits slipped to $162.6 million.

Analysts warn of struggles ahead as Borgata and other Atlantic
City casino operators look to break out of a six-year slump that has
cut gambling revenue more than 40 percent industrywide since the
market's 2006 peak of $5.2 billion.

Zarnett predicted further declines for Atlantic City revenue
into 2013, blaming the lingering effects of Hurricane Sandy, tighter
consumer spending and growing casino competition in the Northeast.

Pennsylvania topped Atlantic City in total gambling revenue
for the first time in 2012, underscoring just how fierce the
competition has become in recent years. Pennsylvania's 11 casinos ended
the year with $3.1 billion in total revenue from their slot machines
and table games, compared to $3 billion for Atlantic City's 12
properties.

Contact Donald Wittkowski:

609-272-7258

DWittkowski@pressofac.com

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